A review by georgiasbookescapes
Maame by Jessica George

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Maddie is a 25 year old Ghanaian English woman who works as a personal assistant for a publishing company. Maddie is know by her family as Maame which is a Ghanaian word that can be used to mean “woman”. Maddie lives with and cares for her father who has Parkinson’s whilst her mother spends years on and off between London and Ghana where she runs a family owned hostel. Maddie’s brother still lives in London but has spent his life being amongst friends, leaving Maddie to care alone for her father. When Maddie has a chance to move out she decides to take it and have a chance to be herself independently. But tragedy strikes and forces her to reflect on who she is and wants to be.

THIS BOOK IS BEAUTIFUL AND SHOULD BE READ BY EVERYONE! It looks at figuring out who you are outside of familial pressures, racism and micro aggressions, what it means to be the girl who wears the yellow jumpsuit, balancing together who others want you to be, who you think you should be, and who YOU really want to be! And grief! Ahhh my favourite friend of a topic. Grief, different for all of us, is a friend we are all forced to heartbreakingly meet. And George does is BEAUTIFULLY! Initially I wasn’t sure this was a 5 star but rather more a 4/4.5 star for me, but by the end it was definitely a solid 5 star and a conflicting favourite for the year as there’s 2 other runners in the mix for that role. 😩